A Morning in Kallio, The Little Boho District of Helsinki

an elaboration on a post to my tiny VSCO Journal

This little area to the east of Helsinki’s center used to be very working-class and, some say, run-down, but recent years have seen a resurgence of popularity marked by gentrification and an influx of students and young couples.

The bar scene is apparently quite renowned, though as a non-drinker I’ll leave that for others to comment about. A weekday visit started out with a stroll around the Hakaniemi Kauppahalli (Market Hall), then coffee (filter, no cream, no sugar) at Good Life Coffee and ended with a great all-you-can-eat Moroccan lunch at Sandro (get there early to beat the crowd). The streets were mostly quiet which, while making the neighborhood slightly lacking in vibrancy, was a nice change from the city center. i’m sure the neighborhood picks up on the weekends.

some Kallio resources from VisitFinland.com (a lovely site in general!) and Helsinki This Week.

Kamppi metro station

Entrance to the Market Hall

Avoid Bad Life. I have to say, for €3 basically drip coffee, it wasn’t bad, especially considering I was told not to add any sugar or cream.

Looking up the hill to Kallio Church

Bear Park (Karhupuisto)

Apartments

The library was undergoing renovations but had this cool art on the plywood barriers

Storage

Y Staircase

Chiaroscuro

i can’t recommend Sandro enough for lunch. their Marrakesh Madness buffet is a steal (you can pay them at any time, apparently, some people pay before they get food, some after). highlights for me included the fish entree and the yellow bread — but again, get there early (e.g., 11, 11:15) before the crowd comes!

Seriously tho €12,90 for AYCE Moroccan (salad+soup+mains)? I'll take it! (And then some!) pic.twitter.com/I8dxKTkJqb

— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk) May 19, 2015